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Editors of Relish compile their best

By Kim Davaz

“Good food matters” is a favorite saying of a friend of Jill Melton, the editor of newspaper-insert Relish magazine. Melton and the rest of the editors at Relish agree, and they’ve put the favorites of their good food of the past three years into “The Best of Relish: Celebrating America’s Love of Food.”

The recipes are relatively fast without resorting to too many prepared foods. They call for canned beans and broth, maybe some prepared pie crust and prepared pizza crust dough for kids’ pizzas, but for the most part, this is scratch food made relatively quickly.

It may take a bit of time and care to handle the phyllo pastry sheets for Tomato Phyllo Pie in the vegetarian section, but the crispy tart full of tomatoes, mozzarella, feta and basil is well worth that bit of fussiness. This tart would be particularly pretty and tasty this summer with a mix of heirloom tomatoes.

So many of the dishes in “The Best of Relish” are the kinds you’ll find yourself turning to whether you need a nice quick meal for company or for a weeknight family dinner. There is enough variety of flavors to keep the adults interested without scaring off the children.

An occasional ingredient may require a bit of effort to find, such as zaatar and sumac for the Cornish hens with a Middle Eastern twist, or Cuban mojo de ajo marinade, but these unusual ingredients are available in markets that carry ethnic foods and increasingly easier to find in regular grocery stores.

I was happy to find two recipes in the book for the often maligned okra, one of my favorite vegetables. (It can get slimy, which can be an off-putting texture in food.)

Asparagus, one of the best spring vegetables, appears in this book wrapped in prosciutto and grilled or mixed with other grilled vegetables and orzo.

A neighbor keeps me supplied with rhubarb and “The Best of Relish” has a recipe calling for straight rhubarb (no strawberries here) with a crumb topping.

The recipes are arranged by types of foods (breakfasts, sides, pastas, fish and seafood, vegetarian meals and desserts). Each recipe is complete on one page, usually alongside a nice, large color photograph. Each dish ends with nutritional information.

As it’s written in the inside of the front cover, “Relish what you eat, because good things happen around the table.”

Thai-Style Peanut Cabbage Salad would be nice to take on a picnic or to a potluck. If you do take it somewhere, put the salad dressing in a separate container and toss the dressing with the salad right before serving. Also, be sure to finely chop the garlic for the dressing or put it through a garlic press.

The salad could be made into a complete meal by adding sauteed tofu, grilled shrimp or cooked and shredded chicken.

Thai-Style Peanut Cabbage Salad

Serves 6.

Dressing:

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon finely grated, peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad:

• 1/4 pound blanched green beans
• 4 cups baby spinach (about 4 ounces)
• 2 cups very thinly sliced green cabbage
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1/4 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 2/3 cup chopped dry-roast peanuts, toasted if desired
• 1/4 cup fresh basil or mint
• 1 (1-ounce) package roasted vegetable chips or sweet potato chips (such as Terra brand), lightly crushed

To prepare the dressing, combine all ingredients in a jar. Cover tightly; shake vigorously.

To prepare the salad, place beans, spinach, cabbage, onions and red pepper in a large bowl.

Just before serving, drizzle about 2/3 of the dressing over the salad; toss the vegetables to coat well.

Sprinkle the salad with peanuts, basil or mint and vegetable chips or sweet potato chips.

Serve with remaining dressing.

Kim Davaz writes a biweekly cookbook review column for The Register-Guard.